He had 118 rushing yards on 29 carries, meaning he eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the three consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Bell – who had 146 and 120 yards, respectively, in wins at Cleveland and Indianapolis late last month – added six catches for 64 yards to give him 1,318 yards from scrimmage in nine games this season.

Despite missing the first three games of the season because of suspension, Bell is fifth in the NFL in yards from scrimmage (he’s first in yards per game at 146.4). Incidentally, he’s also 10th in the AFC in receptions – despite playing only nine games and despite, of course, being a RUNNING back.

Bell’s three-game 100-yard rushing streak is the first for a Steeler since Willie Parker had four consecutive such games in 2006-07.

**Safety dance**

For the first time in more than 25 months, the Steelers were credited with a safety.

Twelve minutes into the game, Giants tackle Ereck Flowers was flagged for holding James Harrison in the end zone. By rule, the infraction automatically awarded the Steelers two points, accounting for their first safety since an Oct. 26, 2014 home win against Indianapolis.

**Brown/Ben tie Terry/Lynn**

All 49 of Antonio Brown’s touchdown catches have come off passes from Ben Roethlisberger. That ties the Terry Bradshaw-Lynn Swann duo for the most by a quarterback/receiver combination in Steelers’ history.

Brown has six touchdowns in his past five games and now has his second-most in a season with 11. Brown had 13 receiving touchdowns in 2014.

Brown is still in search of his first return touchdown of 2016 (he’s had 10 punt returns in addition to his first kickoff return since 2013). Brown had one punt return touchdown in each of the prior three seasons and has had at least one special-teams return TD in five of the six seasons he’s played.

It was the first healthy scratch for Grimble this season; he’d missed the previous two game because of a quadriceps injury but was given a green light to play after practicing fully all last week.

**OLB rotation**

James Harrison and Anthony Chickillo were on the field for the Steelers’ first defensive snap Sunday. Bud Dupree played the second series across from Harrison.
Jarvis Jones and Arthur Moats? They were fighting for scraps.

During the second quarter, Moats became the fourth outside linebacker to play for the Steelers. It wasn’t until after halftime that the Steelers’ first-round pick outside linebacker from 3 ½ years ago, Jones, was given playing time on defense.

Rather than re-type these in paragraph form, I’ll take the easy way out and just copy-and-paste my tweets on the OLB snap counts and all other things playing time…

Demarcus Ayers, shown here during training camp, which for him was hindered by an ankle injury. (Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review photo)

When DeMarcus Ayers had what he called “a high and low ankle sprain” during the second week of his inaugural NFL training camp, the Steelers could have placed him on season-ending injured reserve.

Worst yet, the team could have released him via an injury settlement.

But, in a sign both of the faith the team had in him and in the rookie’s perseverance, Ayers toughed it out throughout the preseason, was placed on the practice squad and – slowly throughout the past three months – gradually worked himself back to full health.

Is he, at long last, about to be rewarded for it?

“Hopefully, I’m active this week and I get the opportunity to go out there,” Ayers said after Wednesday’s practice. “Whether it’s blocking or returning punts, whatever they need me to do, I’ll be up to the task.”

Of the five wide receivers on the Steelers’ 53-man roster at the moment, one is out with an injury for what appears to be (at very least) a few more weeks (Darrius Heyward-Bey, who’s still getting around gingerly) and another might not get back to 100 percent health all season (Sammie Coates and his broken fingers). That leaves just Brown, first-year Eli Rogers and journeyman Cobi Hamilton at wideout.

Ayers statistics in college at Houston on offense (above) and on special teams. (Courtesy www.sports-reference.com)

“In the meetings all year, they have just been telling me, ‘Hey we will need you at some point,’” Ayers said. “I have been growing every week and it’s been impressive to see and I actually feel good about getting better, and just keep getting better.

“And to get a chance to go with Ben helps me understand how he goes through his calls on the field and in game situations. The pace is also good for me, so when I get out there practice will be much harder than the game. So it’s good to get good feedback from him and all the other guys.”

Where Ayers’ immediate impact could potentially be most felt perhaps is as a returner. He was a two-time All-AAC return man. Ayers said he has been returning punts in practice recently, and he’s been part of kickoff return teams with the Steelers in practice too.

But it wasn’t until this week that Ayers was given work on offense commensurate with a player who has the apparent look of one who could make his NFL regular-season debut. “A great feeling,” Ayers said.

“These guys are starting to trust me, and I’m learning the playbook more and more and starting to get a lot of reps now. So whenever my number is called I will be ready.”

We probably won’t find out Ayers is promoted until Saturday afternoon. To make room, maybe Heyward-Bey goes to IR, maybe RB Daryl Richardson or CB Al-Hajj Shabazz is sent back down to the practice squad, maybe L.J. Fort is released. Ayers insists, if a move is made, he won’t know until after the final practice of the week at the earliest.

“Normally, the way they do stuff around here we find out later in the week,” Ayers said. “But it’s always a good sign when you’re running with the ‘1’s,’ because a lot of the guys who have stepped into those roles throughout their week have normally got rewarded. It’s kind of like an interview to see if you’re prepared for the week, and then Saturday when we come in … we’re kind of told what’s going on.”

(Note: defining a “backup QB” isn’t as simple as you might think… Do benchings count? What about a late-season coach’s decision for a losing team to try out a youngster in lieu of a go-nowhere veteran? In short, for my purposes in this blog, I counted only games in which the Steelers were facing a team in which its starter was INJURED… and even at that, for example, I credit Dak Prescott as “starter” even though he gained his job because of injury because, well, he became the starter. It can be inexact, but bare with my subjective judgments here, ok?).

We’ll chat again tonight. Enjoy the game – and more importantly, enjoy Thanksgiving with your families.

Scenes from the Steelers’ carnage on the road over the past two months. (AP photos)

But perhaps Ben said it best when it comes analyzing the Steelers’ struggles away from Heinz Field.

“Losing,” the quarterback said, forcing a chuckle.

Yes, the Steelers have done plenty of that recently when playing on the road – they’ve dropped three consecutive heading into Sunday’s game at Cleveland. But moreso than the raw results are the offense’s lack of production.

I’ve written about Roethlisberger, in particular – and those home/road splits for him have only gotten worse since that was published a month ago (they’d be even far worse yet aside from yardage and points racked up against the Ravens’ prevent defense in the fourth quarter two weeks ago).

It’s so dramatic that the Steelers offense at home and on the road are virtually mirror images of each other.

Counting only their HOME performances, this is where the Steelers would rank among NFL offenses this season:

Third in yardage, fourth in points.

Counting only their ROAD performances, this is where the Steelers would rank among NFL offenses this season:

Fourth-to-last in yards, third-to-last in points.

“It’s just the comfort level of being at home,” Roethlisberger said. “Using the cadence; we get on the road, it’s obviously a lot louder and we have to use a silent count, and that means head bobs from the gun or under center – just sometimes timing could be off a little bit.

“But there’s no excuses; we need to step up. We’ve prided ourselves in years past here on being a great road football team. We need to do that, and we are gonna have to start this week.”

While Roethlisberger didn’t have any ideas for changing up the Steelers’ traveling routine to help make up for the difference, Tomlin at least acknowledged that searching for something to change up is worth the shot.

“We turn over all the stones,” Tomlin said. “And by that I mean every facet of what it is we’re doing here and how we do it. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to have knee-jerk reactions and change, but it means that we’re open to change. And we’re open to change for the right reasons. We’re open to change because it’s going to produce change that’s necessary for us to win. So we’re going to be looking at those things as we go through the week and as we formulate a game plan and lay out a platform or a schedule for the work that awaits us, specific to the work that involving the players.”

The Steelers and Cowboys are two of the NFL’s glamour franchises, and they’ve met in three pretty well-played Super Bowls, too. The teams play Sunday at Heinz Field, but few on either team has too much of a connection to the most recent time they met in the big game (following the 1995 season).

One who does is Sean Lee. Now a Cowboys linebacker, Lee is an Upper St. Clair native who grew up, of course, a Steelers fan.

“Growing up in Pittsburgh, there’s no other option really,” Lee said from Dallas via conference call Thursday.

Lee said he was in third grade when the Steelers played the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX (Dallas won, 27-17).

“I was the guy bringing the ‘Here We Go’ theme song tape to recess,” Lee said. “Playing it over and over again.”

In case you forgot what the “Here We Go” song is – first off, how could you? Second, you can thank me for leaving it in your head the rest of your day (sorry):

“They’re playing well,” Lee said of the Nittany Lions. “You know, I watched the Pitt-Penn State game. We never got to play in the Pitt-Penn State game, and when I was at school we always wanted to play Pitt. I guess I didn’t realize how much bad blood there was until they played this year. That was a fun game to watch.

“I know Pitt played well and ended up winning. But since that game and, really, since the Michigan game, Penn State has done a great job getting better week in and week out. It’s fun to really see them play well the last couple weeks.”

Lee ranks sixth in the NFL in tackles (one spot ahead of former PSU teammate, Paul Posluszny of Hopewell) for the Cowboys this season, his seventh. His 12 interceptions since he entered the league also are tied for the most by an NFL linebacker in that time.